I say this is terribly true today in the universe of electronic communications where, I point out, it is we that don’t give any respect. In our typing and our composition we are lazy, slovenly, careless, thoughtless, nonchalant — in short, downright disrespectful — and we don’t seem give a whatever about it…until we get no respect ourselves. Then we’re upset.

• We misspell names of people and businesses.
• We incorrectly name businesses and organizations.
• We ignore capitalization of proper names and trademark names.
• We misquote people, using incorrect words.
• We type famous quotes, but attribute them to the wrong people.
• We don’t check our sources to see if they are real or a hoax.
• We post and publish incorrect links.

Yeah, yeah, so what? Who cares? You know, you know what I mean.

Businesses can’t be so cavalier. Their success depends on enforceable copyrights, brand name identification, proper use of product names, tag lines, quotes, successful SEO, correct URLs, etc.

To start with, misspelling someone’s name is just plain rude. Our names, our choice of spelling, our inclusion of middle names, initials, nicknames are an integral part of how we present ourselves to the world, and how we see, hold, and validate ourselves. When you misspell or incorrectly capitalize someone’s name you are directly insulting them. In my opinion they have every right to be angry.

A misspelling could mean a reader couldn’t find a volume, and an author doesn’t sell a book. A misspelling could mean an innocent person can be harassed for the financial dealings of some ne’er-do-well.

For bloggers and online authors, misspelling other peoples’ names can alienate those folks, and the important trackbacks, reciprocal links and mutual admiration referrals and recommendations may never materialize for you.

When someone reviews our Business Plan Pro product but calls it, say BizinessPro Writer, we lose customers. It can, and will happen to your product as well. When you refer to a product or company or website, check to be sure you are using the correct name.

Ignoring capitalization of letters in names can cause confusion, and possibly a loss of copyright protection. For instance, we all know that Twitter is the proper name of a social communication network, and twitter is a bird song. The soft drink is spelled Coke, but coke is a narcotic and a coal derivative used in making steel.

As another example, take jello. Jell-O [note the capitalization now, if you haven't before] is the protected trade-name, but it has become a generic word for any type of gelatin-based dessert. Go to the store and you’ll see Knox, Royal, a local private label maybe, but to the customer they are all jello and they don’t care which one they buy. You can be sure that Jell-O cares.

Adobe’s Photoshop is well on its way to becoming an eponymous term. Now anytime someone makes a casual remark about manipulating pictures, they say they photoshoped it, regardless of which digital image editing software program they actually used.

It costs businesses billions annually in marketing branding efforts to keep their brand names visible, unique, known and purchased. But lazy, thoughtless, careless typing works everyday to negate the value of your marketing efforts.

No end of trouble, misinterpretation, bad feelings, feuds, lawsuits, destroyed public images and reputations have come about because of misquoting. Something as small as a single letter or two (could, would, should) can change the entire meaning of your business’ publicly made statement of concern to one of callous indifference, and the survival of your company.

Many quotes from literature and famous people from years past have slipped into our vernacular. They are often misquoted and misattributed. Brush up your Shakespeare by Michael Macrone has an entire chapter on popular phrases which people think came from the Bard, but did not. “The long and the short of it” “Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn’d” “Fool’s Paradise” are just few.

This problem is certainly not limited to age-old authors. “Play it again, Sam” – was a line never spoken by Ingrid Bergman or Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. “Houston, we have a problem.” This is a misstatement of the actual communication between the Apollo 13 astronauts and Mission Control in Houston. Your credibility suffers when you incorrectly quote, or assign the words to the wrong person.

Recently, the U.K. mainstream media was caught not checking their sources adequately. They printed quotes from an elegy for Michael Jackson, from a Twitter post ostensibly by Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. The tweet was actually by a Twitter impostor, a case of identity theft. A significant lapse in due diligence. It damaged the public position of the Foreign Secretary, and discredited the reputation and trustworthiness of those media.

Posting bad links is sloppy and unnecessary. At best, it irritates readers who get the 404 Errors, or end up on a page that has nothing to do with the original publishing. Worse, a bad link loses customers/visitors/business at the intended link. If the author gets affiliate or click-through revenue, publishing a link without checking its accuracy is like throwing money away.

It is time we electronic digital communicators put some polite respect back into our writings. Use spell checkers, proof read, double check and spell correctly the names of people, businesses and products. Don’t assume you’ve got it right. The power of the Internet is just a click away.

After all, if you expect to be respected, you have to show the same respect to others.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

So, do you agree? Well, that’s what T-Mobile is offering users who lost all their data when the Microsoft/Danger network crashed earlier this month, without an adequate backup in place. Unrecoverable is the word they are using.

Now, here is the question every single one of you have to ask yourselves: “In case of a disaster/crash/hack, is my business’ data backed up and recoverable?”

Really now, think hard. If this can happen to mobile phone data, it can happen to your business’ vital records. If all your data…your accounting, your payroll, your invoicing, AR/AP, customer records, serial numbers, inventory, development plans, R&D reports, whatever, was lost, unrecoverable, would your business survive? And if it could survive, what would it cost you in money, time, cash, personnel resources, capital resources, lost customers, investment, fulfillment delays, dividends, tax inquiries, profits, and money to recreate those records, or blindly grope ahead without them? More or less than one month’s service fee do you suppose?

Those of us who started in computers with punch cards (”what are those?” some of you ask) and aged along with mainframes and Apple IIs, floppy disks and LANS have always been conscious of the need for data backup. Always, that is, since our first hard drive got reformatted at the repair shop who promised us we didn’t need to do a tape-drive backup.

The worlds of speculative fiction have, for years, been full of stories imagining and describing the dire consequences of data loss. It could be political opponents, war, criminals, business competitors, presonal enemies, preteen hackers, spies, hurricanes, earthquakes, solar flares, nuclear-powered satellites exploding, or even aliens that cause the data-loss crisis. Unlike books, TV and movies, though, the heroes (you and your business) won’t suddenly be saved by the deus ex machina in the last 3 minutes … unless, that is, you’ve already invested the resources of time and money into data backup.

Cloud computing, wireless access anywhere, online applications and remote-server-hosted data can certainly be a boon to business, but this foul-up clearly displays the hazards inherent in having your data stored elsewhere.

Understand this! Once you hand over your data to someone else, it is no longer exclusively yours.

There is no possible guarantee that your vital records won’t be, with evil intent, hacked, perused, copied and sold, simply stolen, corrupted or, by accident, just plain lost, deleted, or unrecoverable. Each technological generation becomes enamored of the possibilities and capabilities of the gizmos we invent. We can’t help it. It is, then, up to we geezers, ancients, oldsters and curmudgeons to holler:

“HEY! Pay attention! It is going to break! There are going to be screwups! Someone is going to mess with it! Watch out! Protect yourself now!” “We know this because it happened to us!”

So, if you’ve embraced the-sky-is-the-limit cloud computing, you owe it to your business and its survival to buy some information insurance, as it were, and back up all your data locally, and frequently. This doesn’t have to be on-site necessarily, but out of the clouds and firmly on the ground. Because, really, seriously, once your data is gone, the likelihood of successful disaster recovery is mighty slim. You are S-O-L.

Steve Lange
Senior Editor, and Oldster who’s lost data before
Palo Alto Software

The article, originally published earlier in September, is about owners of several types of small businesses which opened, recovered, or expanded during the current economic crunch because local patrons were willing to invest in their favorite local businesses. Several types of money raising programs are discussed, including VIP cards/treatment for shareholders, $600 store and restaurant certificates sold for $500 (20% is a pretty good ROI), as well as “shares”.

Businesses showcased include restaurants, bookstores, pub/bar, and a fair-trade retail gift store. The focus of these financing efforts is on encouraging customers to become patrons or shareholders. And shareholders are a loyal customer base. Local shareholders feel vested in the company and want you to succeed.

Look to your customer base and your community. Including them as participants in your business and fostering a buy-local awareness could bring you that shot-in-the-arm financial boost to success.

Read the entire Love a local business? Buy a share article.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

Now, there was a time when great really meant something. Take Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, conqueror of lands, founder of cities for example. Now, he is great. Somehow I just can’t see Product XX’s great online resources changing the political and demographic history of three continents.

Or maybe Ramesses II, Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty, known as the Great. Can you imagine the great new flavor of Processed Food XXX ruling unchallenged for 66 years, causing the building of cities and monumental sculptures that survive for 3,500 years? Or inspiring poetry such as P.B. Shelley’s Ozymandias “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”?

OK. Actually, I CAN look on Processed Food XXX and despair. But Processed Food XXX great?!?! Not a chance.

The Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s east coast is truly Great. The reef system is thousands of kilometers long, and hosts a diversity of corals and sea life unmatched on the globe. Somehow it just seems insulting to compare it to the great customer (dis)service system of Company XXXX.

So let’s stop claiming every new and old product or service is great. After all, when every thing is great, nothing is great.

There are plenty of under-utilized superlatives available. Pick up a thesaurus or a dictionary and take a look. Click over to Thesaurus.reference.com, Merriam-Webster.com’s Thesaurus or any of the other online thesauri and peruse some of the

august, capital, chief, commanding, dignified, distinguished, eminent, exalted, excellent, famed, famous, fine, glorious, grand, heroic, high-minded, highly regarded, honorable, idealistic, illustrious, impressive, leading, lofty, magnanimous, main, major, noble, notable, noted, noteworthy, outstanding, paramount, primary, principal, prominent, puissant, regal, remarkable, renowned, royal, stately, sublime, superior, superlative, talented, able, absolute, aces, adept, admirable, adroit, awesome, bad*, best, brutal, cold*, complete, consummate, crack*, downright, dynamite, egregious, exceptional, expert, fab, fantastic, fine, first-class*, first-rate, good, heavy*, hellacious, marvelous, masterly, number one, out of sight, out of this world, out-and-out, perfect, positive, proficient, super-duper, surpassing, terrific, total, tough, transcendent, tremendous, unmitigated, unqualified, utter, wonderful, abundant, ample, big, big league, bulky, bull, colossal, considerable, decided, enormous, excessive, extended, extensive, extravagant, extreme, fat, gigantic, grievous, high, huge, humongous, husky, immense, inordinate, jumbo, lengthy, long, major league, mammoth, mondo, numerous, oversize, prodigious, prolonged, pronounced, protracted, strong, stupendous, terrible, titanic, towering, tremendous, vast, voluminous,

alternatives to great. It is time to spice up and enliven our marketing language.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

Assuming you’ve done your homework, or are already in business and know your customers very, very well, you then have the tricky job of re-working your product or service or brand or customer service approach (or all of the above) to most appeal to the people you really want to get and keep as customers.

You want these people to see themselves and their needs, or maybe their ideal selves, in every interaction they have with you, your company, your products, etc.

If you are selling high-tech gadgets to new entrepreneurs, you do not package it in plain brown wrapping paper tied with string, sent book-rate.

I was struck recently by the weird design choices that can result from a process (or perhaps a decision-maker) who was not clear on their target market. Back in July, Chris Ryan of The Apple Blog reviewed the history of some key apple icons.

He noted in passing that some applications “have also seen different icons with new versions.” He’s not kidding. The visual example he offers is for Apple Keynote, a presentation application.

Let’s take a closer look at what the icon history is showing about how Apple understood and tried to engage their target market.

The icon for Keynote 2003 shows a polished wood lectern with classic ionic columns, symbolic of neoclassical architecture and, more broadly, established, secure institutions. It also boasts a built-in electronic microphone. The podium evokes a crowded lecture hall at an elite college, where learning bridges tradition and innovation.

In 2005, Keynote 2 has a radically different iconography. Our translucent glass lectern now sits atop a polished metal base, the electronic component is more pronounced, and the contents of the presentation, rather than the structural features of the podium, are the focus. This is an icon aimed at the high-tech business person, presenting financial or marketing data in a corporate environment.

What happened between 2003 and 2005 to cause this change?

Well, Apple’s iPod had created a major buzz, even among PC users, a factor Apple took advantage of with the release of the Mac mini, aimed at getting PC owners to switch to Mac at little cost.

The ongoing Microsoft/Apple feud saw Apple winning out in design during this same year. As John Markoff of the New York Times noted in May, 2003, “Apple executives took obvious glee last week in noting that the software centerpiece of the Microsoft conference, new graphics software that is scheduled to appear in “Longhorn,” Microsoft’s 2005 version of its Windows operating system, apes features that have been in Apple’s OS X operating system since 2001.” (Longhorn was the working codename for Windows Vista, finally released in 2008.)

Since 2001, the general wisdom has been that PCs running Windows Office are the overwhelming default in corporate America, where IT departments want to standardize the proprietary software on their entire structure’s collection of computers. Apple, on the other hand, was for “cool,” leading-edge, personal use. The rogue employee with the Powerbook was invariably on the cutting edge of technology, compared to his desktop tower, PC cubicle-farm colleagues.

Apple’s Keynote 2 icon brings that leading edge, high-tech vision of the Mac user to the corporate boardroom. It presents a direct challenge to the notion that Microsoft Windows, and specifically PowerPoint, are the hallmark of a successful business presenter.

So far, so good.

So what happened?

Keynote 4, released in 2007, is an unnatural muddle of the two target markets that were so beautifully, and so clearly, addressed by the earlier icons. They have retained the metal base, but it’s now topped by a plain wood platform. The microphone has shrunk again, and the presentation, now centered and squared, is in plain black and white.

Their new target market appears to be an aesthetically challenged accountant, sent at the last minute to present the quarterly report to a tech-savvy audience with whom he is not entirely comfortable. I can almost see him, nervously brushing his comb-over across his sweating pate in the glare of the stage lights…

So, was there new market research that told them this was, in fact, the high-growth market niche they wanted? Or did some desperate marketing executive tell the product development team they were losing their appeal to the academic market, and try to bridge both worlds without enough thought?

Lesson for your business – if you have two (or more) distinct market segments you are trying to serve, don’t confuse them. Don’t try to talk to one with the language or iconography of the other. Either come up with a single, coherent design and approach that speaks to both, or split your offerings and marketing materials so that your desired customers know for sure that you’re addressing them, and their needs.

Now here’s the question. When you place the call and are connected to voice mail, how often do you tune out the message while waiting for the tone? There’s the point. For many of us, the voice mail’s greeting message is so routine we ignore it completely. And there we show our disrespect for our customers. And in doing so, harm our own businesses.

As an example, not too long ago we received a message on our home voice mail. It was from a lawyer, we’ll call him Mr. A. Turney. Mr. A. Turney was leaving a message for Mr. Cheung about a current legal issue, and needed Mr. Cheung to return his call right away. To me this was an obvious miskeying of the phone number. I figured Mr. A. Turney would call Mr. Cheung the next day when he hadn’t heard from him.

The next day we had another message from Mr. A. Turney, telling Mr. Cheung, in a slightly irritated voice, to return his call right away. Now, this was kind of funny, since at that time, I was in the habit of telling jokes on our outgoing message, and my voice has a rather slight Pacific Northwest accent, with minor hints of my Upper Midwest Scandinavian background. And to tell the truth, I doubt very much that Mr. Cheung would be telling jokes on his business phone voice mail.

The third day came, and to my surprise Mr. A. Turney left us another message. He was getting quite exasperated. I can just see him, sitting at his desk, pressing redial on his phone, and busily multi-tasking, writing his torts and retorts, while cluelessly ignoring my joke for the third time. Now, I was getting a little irritated myself. So that evening I called Mr. A. Turney’s office and told HIS voice mail that he’d been leaving messages for Mr. Cheung at the wrong phone number all week. Then I changed our outgoing message to tell a somewhat unflattering lawyer joke. Unfortunately, I didn’t have Mr. Cheung’s number, or I would have called him to let him know that his lawyer was severely lacking in attention to detail.

Thursday night we returned home, and sure enough Mr. A. Turney had left yet another message for Mr. Cheung. Obviously he didn’t listen to our message with the ribald lawyer joke, or at least he didn’t deign to mention it, nor had he listened to his OWN voice mail messages, telling him he was barking up the wrong telephone pole. But wouldn’t you have thought he’d have figured out that something was wrong after almost a week of unreturned calls about a pending legal issue?

Here are a few things to consider in your Customer Service contacts with VoiceMail:

• If you are a business, use a business-like outgoing greeting on your voice mail, including your business name.
• When you, a Customer Care Team member, call someone and you get sent to voice mail, listen to the message. Don’t dismiss the message content out of hand. There is good information there. You might find that the person you want is out of the office for a week. Or that they have moved or left the company. You might find a different number to call. Or you might discover you are calling the wrong number.
• If you promised you would return a call to a customer, follow through on that promise. Your customer is waiting for your call. Leave the pertinent information on their voice mail, and if possible, call them back, later, to confirm that they got your message.
• If the voice mail greeting you encounter is a non sequitur, it should be a clear hint that perhaps you have miskeyed the number, or perhaps been given an incorrect number by your customer. In that case you should put in a little extra effort to contact them by email, or look them up in the phone book.
• If you persist in leaving messages on an incorrect voice mail you disserve your current customer, and you’re almost certain to alienate a potential new customer. I know that I won’t be going to Mr. A. Turney for my legal work. He didn’t listen to me before when he thought I was his client…why would I believe he’d listen to me if I truly was?

Show your customers that you respect them, and value your communications with them. Listen to what they have to say.

p.s. I’ve not received a voice mail from Mr. A. Turney recently. Probably Mr. Cheung hired a new lawyer since Mr. A. Turney was obviously ignoring his legal needs because Mr. A. Turney never called him back.

1. It’s draining
2. It’s incessant
3. Almost everyone has a suggestion about how to manage it

I’m going to go out on a limb and postulate that you’ve faced a few email issues of your own. How do you manage it, both personally and professionally? How do you use it to provide the kind of customer service you’d like to be known for? How do you support your brand with email?

These are all big questions, some with intuitive answers and others that require a bit more thoughtful digging. If that’s not digging that you’re interested in doing, you’re in luck. We’re handling that for you at the Email Center Pro blog.

Of particular interest might be a recent series we completed, entitled “Stop the Madness: Manage Email to Grow Your Business”. The posts provide insight on things like brand identity and the value that you provide through email. If you’re trying to figure out how to make better use of the time you spend wrestling with this communication channel, the Email Center Pro blog is the place to do it.

If you just want some interesting insights and a bit of a light-hearted look at email, you’ll find that there, too. We’d like to think that we’re a full-service solution.

Jason Gallic,
Product Manager, Email Center Pro

One of the most important features about good marketing process is its impact when it comes time for the owner to move out. Whether you plan to sell out or pass the business on, having a system installed that generates leads and converts them to loyal, profitable clients will significantly improve your business’s value.

Your marketing system should include a clear statement of how you are different and better; a complete sales kit filled with persuasive reasons to do business with you; a lead-generation process that includes the internet, advertising, public relations and referrals; and a process that effectively and efficiently converts leads to loyal customers.

Succession planning is more than just marketing, however. Here are seven other areas you need to consider:

1. Retirement isn’t death. Small business owners don’t plan for succession because they genuinely hate the idea of not working—no control, no work, no identity …so only about one quarter have a plan. Not planning leaves your staff and their families incredibly vulnerable.

2. Retirement isn’t just deciding not to go into the office anymore. It’s ensuring you have enough money to retire on from the sale of your business. Will your business even carry on or will you sell it? Who’s going to manage the business? How will ownership be transferred?

3. The biggest business “killers” are taxes and family discord. So succession planning is about management, ownership and taxes. Will an owner manage the business or not? Will all owners have the same number of shares? How will you reorganize the company to reduce your taxes?

4. Outsource. If you’ve been successful, you already depend on a network of help to manage your financial, tax, and legal; maybe even marketing, distribution and HR issues. Small business owners are typically too emotionally involved to make good succession plans, so let someone else you trust do it for you.

5. Train and mentor your successor(s). Okay we know you hate this one—who has the time? But how can you expect your business to continue to thrive without you if you don’t train? And remember, you’ll be throwing away your life’s work if you don’t.

6. Start business succession planning early. Okay we know you hate this idea too. But five years in advance is good. Ten years in advance is better. Many business advisors tell budding entrepreneurs to build an exit strategy right into their business plan.

7. Read. You owe it to yourself, your family, your employees and your suppliers to know the issues that will affect them once you’ve left.
Canadian Resources

An overview by the Financial Post of retirement planning, after the sale, taming your tax liability, financing the sale, and accurately evaluating the business.

“Investing in Your Future: Building a Succession Plan” to members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Transition planning tips from the Business Development Bank of Canada

“Closing or Selling Your Business—A Succession Plan Info-Guide” from the Canada-Ontario Business Service Centre. Includes toll-free numbers to get detailed information on legal and tax requirements, plus helpful information.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

The number one objective for a sales letter is get the letter read. And the second is to persuade the reader to take an action and start a business relationship.

How do you do this? First, create a powerful headline with an immediate clear benefit for the reader, not some wishy-washy “Hi, here we are” statement. Ask a question that shows you understand their needs,

Are you still looking for someone who can guarantee your mower, tractor, trimmer, cultivator or compactor will be ready to work when you are?

This show’s you understand their needs and are not just jumping into a “rah rah” selling pitch.

Then tell them you have the solution,

Our 10 point small engine tune-up will keep you running strong all summer long-we absolutely guarantee it.

Give them your business credentials. Dave could say, “I’ve been repairing all makes of lawn and garden equipment for over 15 years and I love it!”

Now offer them something they can use, in other words: tell them what’s in it for them if they buy your product or use your service right away. Don’t be afraid to be bold. Use Capitals, underline, or bold type–let the offer leap off the page so that if they read nothing else, they’ll at least see the offer you’re making.

Take advantage of our FREE get-to-know-us offer!

Now add some credibility-people want to know what others say about you, so tell them-add two or three testimonials.

Be sure your letter has a high interest factor by adding some free advice or tips and tricks. Dave could tell how to make an engine run better by selecting proper fuel mixtures or how to keep a lawn mower blade sharp.

Clearly state what the next action should be and give them a reason why it’s important to act right away.

Be sure you’re ready for the growing season–call us NOW!

Use plain language and don’t use language that you would not normally use–be sure it sounds like you.

Thank the reader for reading your letter and sign it personally. If you know the reader, add a note at the bottom in your own handwriting.

Last, add a P.S. This is a great place to reiterate the offer and maybe even sweeten the deal.

Take advantage of our FREE “get-to-know-us” offer by April 30th and we’ll throw in a free tank of gas for your mower or tractor.

Of course you must have a good list to send this out to–one that is accurate and up-to-date. Sending a great letter to a non-existent person is a waste of time, so phone your contacts before you mail and make sure your list is up to date.

Do a test. Send out a few dozen per week, and follow up by phone. Vary the offer and see what happens.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Have you seen this?

A while back, Tropicana decided to change their boxes from the straw in the orange look to a new, cleaner looking box with a “crate and barrel glass” filled with juice on the edge of the box.

The move, as I read at the Daily Heller,  was pushed as a “historic integrated-marketing and advertising campaign… designed to reinforce the brand and product attributes” and “help consumers rediscover the health benefits they get from drinking America’s iconic orange-juice brand.” Wow, that’s a pretty big job for a simple box redesign.

What was the result of this “historic” push?

It lost money. Either because people didn’t recognize the branding anymore or were turned off by the “generic” look of the new box. Personally, I like the clean look of the new branding, but the thing that used to say Tropicana doesn’t say Tropicana to me anymore.  It says Orange Juice.

Maybe they should have talked with Naota Fukasawa who designed new fruit juice packaging meant to mimic the look and feel of the fruit inside.

Updating your packaging and by extension, your brand can be important to keep current in the fast moving world, but at what expense?

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager